The Freaks Of Gotham (Jeremiah Valeska x OC x Jerome Valeska) (Gotham Fanfic)

Chapter 3

I awaken to find Ecco's boss standing in my room, watching me. I immediately spring up and try to get out of bed.

"What happened? How did I get here? I was just going to grab a drink... What...?" Xander stops me.

"Don't try and get up, stay in bed for a bit, you just passed out..." He mumbles something while passing me a glass of water.

"How long have I been out?" I ask, looking into his hazel eyes that were filled with worry.

"It's been about a day, I was worried you weren't going to wake up, Ecco went out to buy some things so I offered to stay and look after you. She was very worried about you..." He replies, sitting down at the edge of my bed. The room becomes silent for a few minutes.

"Xander?" I ask, but he doesn't reply, he seemed to be lost in thought. "Jer?" This time he flinches as I say it.

"What? huh? Did you want something Ash? I haven't heard you call me that since..." He mumbles the last sentence so I couldn't hear it.

"Jer. Do you remember the circus? With you and Jerome and me?" I ask, hoping it was the boy I remembered. He freezes for a second.

"Yes, I do actually, I haven't seen you or my brother in a while though. When Ecco mentioned you were her roommate I instantly knew I had to talk to you again somehow..." He carefully picks up a book off of a table nearby. "I see that you kept this, I thought you would have gotten rid of it once you had read it."

"I couldn't bring myself to throw it out, and I enjoy rereading it when I'm bored," I say, looking around my room and spotting the small box that contained the present Ecco had brought me that I still hadn't opened.

"Could you pass me that box? It was a present from Ecco, I still need to open it..."

"Oh, yes, of course," Jeremiah says, handing me the box. I open it to find a beautiful ring inside.

"Wow..." I say, staring at it. I read a small note inside of the box.

"I know that you don't like rings but I saw this and just had to buy it for you, it's your 21st birthday, after all, I have to celebrate it somehow. From Ecco." I put the ring onto my finger and close the box, then look at the time on my phone.

"Oh (insert appropriate word here), I'm late, I promised Jerome that I'd visit him tonight since the circus leaves soon." I quickly stand up and make my way to the door, however, my legs are too unstable and I end up tripping over instead, luckily Jeremiah catches me before I hit the floor.

" If you really must go to see him then at least let me accompany you, just let me grab something to hide my face with, I'd hate to know what he'd do if he saw me..." He says with an edge of worry creeping into his tone. He grabs some sunglasses, a scarf and a hat and drives me to the circus. He helps me out of the car and over to the circus.

"Oh, hey Ash, you're back! And you brought a friend with you, that's good, don't worry about tickets, you can walk right in, your basically family Ash and any friend of yours is a friend of ours." The man at the ticket booth says, smiling at me. Jeremiah helps me navigate through the circus until I end up at Jerome's trailer. I knock on the door.

Jeremiah's Pov:

The door opens to reveal my dear brother, Jerome Valeska. He instantly hugs Ash when he sees them.

"Who's this guy with you Ash?" He asks, looking at them lovingly. A burning sensation creeps over me, hatred fills my every bone.

"I'm their boyfriend!" I say, suddenly confident. I quickly snatch them out of his grip and hold them. They look up at me, slightly confused. They whisper into my ear.

"Jer, what are you doing?" I look down into their eyes.

"I-I'm saving y-you from h-him," I whisper, stumbling over my words slightly, unsure of how else to phrase it. I'm about to speak again when they stop me.

"Thank you." They whisper, hugging me tightly. Jerome stared at me, pure hatred filling his hazel eyes. Ash moved away from me and went back to talking to Jerome, apologising for being late. I could tell now that they were not comfortable around him. They were shaking slightly and kept their head down.

"I thought I'd scared you off after I kissed you yesterday." He laughs. The burning feeling returns, my skin crawls as I watch the two.

"Look, Jerome, I'm not... Comfortable with you doing stuff like that, we're only friends, I've never seen you in that way and I don't think I ever could..." They say to him, never lifting their gaze from the floor. Jerome's smile becomes twisted for a second.

"Oh, so has my dear old brother stolen you from me too? After he left you and caused my mother to despise me, you still like that (insert appropriate word here) more than me?" He asks threateningly.

Ash's Pov:
I don't even know why I decided to come to see Jerome, maybe I thought it would be like old times. But clearly, he thought differently, he acted as if the kiss meant something. I had to get away, I knew I did, if I didn't then things may become violent. I begin to drift into my mind, unsure of what else to do or say or how to escape. I'm brought back into reality when I hear Jerome laughing. I look over to find him holding a knife to Jeremiah's neck.

"No, Jerome, put it down!" I say, talking to him as if he was a dog.

"No, maybe killing him will help you see, we're meant to be, you and me. Why else would you have ended up at the circus?" He says, a psychotic smile appearing on his face. " And after I kill him I can go after my dear brother and deal with him too. " He laughs.

"GCPD, PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! JEROME VALESKA DROP THE KNIFE! " You see a group of police running up. "Jerome Valeska, you are being arrested for the murder of your mother and the attempted murder of this man here, you have the right to remain silent, anything said can and will be used against you." And with that, Jerome walked away in handcuffs.

"I'll be back for you Ash, and I'll kill my brother and your little boyfriend when I'm out!" He yells, laughing psychotically.

"That was too close..." Jeremiah says, rubbing his neck. "At least he didn't recognise me."

"I'm sorry Jer, I shouldn't have come back, I don't know why I did," I say, sighing.

"It's ok, now let's go back home, do you want to come round mine for tonight? I can call Ecco to tell her that you won't be coming back." He says, removing his sunglasses so he can look into my eyes.

"That sounds nice," I reply, linking arms with him and dragging him back to the car.